swack

English

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scots swack, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English swac (“weak”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English *swæc (found in derivative swæcehēow (“weakmindedness, nonsense”)), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *swakaz (“weak”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian swäk, West Frisian swak, Dutch zwak, German Low German swack, German schwach.

Adjective

swack (comparative swacker, superlative swackest)

1. (Scotland) Lithe; nimble.
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 37:

     it came the turn of a brave young childe with a red head and the swackest legs you ever saw, […] and as soon as he began the drill you saw he'd carry off the prize.

Synonyms

• gracile, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender and Thesaurus:flexible

Etymology 2

UK c. 1860s. Used at Christ's Hospital School, Sussex.

Noun

swack (plural swacks)

1. (dated, British, school slang) A deception; a trick.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deception

Derived terms

• swack up, swack-up

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1900) The Public School Word-Book‎^[1], London: Hirshfeld Brothers, page 240
• Template:R:Partridge 1984

Etymology 3

Noun

(New Zealand slang. Elsewhere?) A large number of something. She gave me a swack of books.

Anagrams

• Wacks, cawks, wacks

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Lower Sorbian

Etymology

swak +‎ -k

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [swatsk]

Noun

swack m ?

1. diminutive of swak (brother-in-law)

Declension

Declension of swack

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	swack	swacka	swacki
Genitive	swacka	swackowu	swackow
Dative	swackoju	swackoma	swackam
Accusative	swacka	swackowu	swacki, swackow
Instrumental	swackom	swackoma	swackami
Locative	swacku	swackoma	swackach